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I've wanted to build an Israeli Air Force AH-1 Tzefa F for a long time. So, with this Group Build I figured there's no time like the president. The base kit is the Revell AH-1G. OOF. I had told myself when I was working on the old Tamiya 1/25 Centurion to convert it to an IDF Sho't that I would never again work on an older model. I guess I was wrong.

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Cockpit parts. Molded and caste extra parts found in the an Academy SUFA cockpit.

More of the same. Side consoles are from the single seat cockpit tub found in the SUFA box.

Before I decided to focus on casting individual sections I caste the side panel as a whole.

Antennas.

This bump and light are in different locations on the Tzefa. Wing Tip Stores Pylon is from the MRC AH-1W.

Position light just set in place.

Started work on the fuselage. Sanded smooth. Nose from the AH-1W. Will require lots of shaping. Same for in front of the ammo bay. Filled in panel line gullies.

A couple of new panels from the AH-1W. Some canopy work. Left panel is Hydraulic System Reservoir vent. I suppose. The fins are supposed to project outward of the fuselage surface. I didn't bother. The Wing Pylon location in this kit is indented, so I glued together the Wing Pylon, glued it in place, cut it off, then sanded the area smooth. White teardrop, just set in place, is Alternator Housing, I think. Air intake is for the Environmental Control System. Started a bit of framing of the Exhaust Air Mixing housing, upper right.

Thank you, MARU. I've been collecting stuff to build this helicopter for years. Now seemed a good time to blow the dust off of everything to see what I could see.

Thank you, Harvey. I'll be looking for you.

Thank you, O2.

Believe me, Jack.. I hope something positive comes out of this.

Thank you, Jim.

Brother Bear! You beat me to the Mediterranean Spitfire! Thank you for stopping by and saying hello. Your Spit is a sight to behold. I've been looking in but haven't commented. It seems that each time it pops up I'm looking at it on my phone. And with my stubby fingers and the phone doing stupid things with words I don't respond from my phone. But I'll get there!

Thank you, Young Tiger. I have been waiting for a 1/32 Tzefa to come out in I.M. for a long time as well. I know that sometime during or just after this process Tamiya will come out with one.

I can't believe my last post was only 3 days ago. Making this cockpit has been such an exercise of extreme focus I thought it had been a week! Oh well.

Sanded off most of the detail. Gunners cockpit from just atop the seat. I didn't strain myself rebuilding the rudders as they will be in a dark hole behind the IP. Reflective dots toward the top. I have containers of very small solder balls. .06mm is the largest size. I picked them up off of eBay a couple of years ago. I smashed them flat and glued them in place, using them as fasteners instead of punched discs. Need to do some fix-it work on the collective.

Here I wanted to show the control stick. These solder balls are .04mm diameter. The flexible base is made up of punched and sandwiched .005 sheet. I don't know what the rod with handle is.

I still have a bit more to do here. Not much. I took apart a coaxial cable to see what the wiring looked like. The silver cable is made from the metal wire sheathing which is used to cut down attenuation. I stuck a bunch of it into a pin vice and started rotating the pin vice until I got this. The real cable is braided. Close enough.

Pilots cockpit. You can see by looking at the pilots seat that I've done some work on it. Also the gunners seat. The back was flat. I measured in from the edge, used dymo tape as a guide, and scored. Then, using a razer saw I cut the back from the seat, bent the back to shape, super glued it, then sanded the corner to match. I still need to make the cushions. I cast the collective from the AH-1W. Still working on the control stick.

Detail of the rudder stuff. The rod in the center with punched nut is the Pedal Adjustment. You can see the new shape of the gunners seat back. Next to the seat, on either side is a rough area. That's the location for the arm rests. They and the seat cushions will be made from 2 part epoxy putty.

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This is looking great. I'm working on doing a 1/35 AH-1F conversion now for Werner's Wings. I'm hoping to have it done by Christmas. I have permission and the parts from Fireballmodel Works to do a lot of the work. The rest we are doing in CAD.

If I can provide any assistance let me know, but it looks like you got some great references already.

I'm following this conversion carefully. If you make castings I'd love to do it for Werner's Wings as an add on to my conversion.

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I'm doing it for the Monogram/Revell 1/32nd AH-1G to an F. Check out the Werner's Wings Facebook page for the exhaust. I'm interested in your Israeli conversion parts. PM says you can not receive a PM. Don't know why.